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Episode 1556 (6 January 1998)
Synopsis Ian is off to the council to make a speech against the hostel, and he asks Kathy if she will be supporting him. She is suddenly less supportive and says maybe they should rethink and just live with it, and that she didn't appreciate being used as a pawn, when he asks how many people Ian suspects the dippy vicar has got to her but she ignores this remark. George invites Annie to lunch, and she asks why. He says there doesn't have to be a reason, I have no hidden agendas. She says he's a terrible liar, and agrees. She's looking nervous so George asks if she has a guilty conscience. She says no, and asks what he wants. He says it was something Johnny said that made him think. Annie looks even more guilty, and George continues that it was the remark about life being too short, and he has decided to hand over the business to her. She's thrilled, and says "Total control?" He says "Not quite, but full financial control anyway." Cindy meets her new barrister who is a slippery customer who says she looks guilty as hell, but he doesn't care and will represent her anyway. He says the standard line would be to plead guilty and hope for clemency, but since she can't, he is a lateral thinker and has another plan, which is a bit of a gamble, but since they didn't go for the standard line it may just work. He says that his plan is to question the validity of bringing a prosecution at all because it was her husband who reported her to the police, and it could be that he can persuade the courts he is a vengeful and bitter person, obsessed with hatred for her, who is simply doing it for revenge, and nothing to do with the welfare of the children. He will argue that the prosecution is not in the interests of the crown and should never have been brought except that Ian put pressure on the police and CPS. Cindy is happy to go for the gamble, saying that this is all true and Ian is doing it for revenge. Meanwhile, Ian, Pat and Peggy go to the council meeting to speak. Ian argues much as he did at the public meeting, with emotive and less than rational arguments, calling the people who will inhabit the hostel scum and saying that Walford is already knee deep in the flotsam and jetsam of humanity, and is trying to rid itself of them, not encourage more. A very respectable-looking small businessman speaks eloquently in favour of the hostel, saying he was rescued from drug addiction by a similar scheme, and it is often circumstances which drag people into these situations. He says he understands Ian being scared of the unknown because if their backgrounds had been different he could have been in Ian's position and vice-versa. The council don't take kindly to Ian's rhetoric and decide in favour of allowing the hostel to proceed. Kathy turns up late, and watches the speeches. Peggy leaves slagging Ian off saying he has let them down. He says he said exactly the same as he did at the meeting and she thought that was wonderful. She puts up the newspaper picture of Alex on the dart board. Bianca and Simon discuss Tiffany's relationship with Grant, and Simon goes to try to talk her out of staying with "that apeman". She tells him he has no idea about relationships between a man and a woman so he shouldn't poke his nose in. Phil looks after Ben for the afternoon, and meets Conor at the playground looking after Jessie. Jessie finds a penny and Conor jokes that he should be scouring the ground too, as he's on the way to being broke. Phil asks what he does for work, and Conor says he's worked as a mechanic in the past, so if Phil knows of anyone who needs one. Phil says he might in the near future as he's thinking of a more hands-off approach to the Arches if another deal comes off, so he will bear him in mind. Huw goes to see Mary and she apologises for standing him up last night. They bitch about Ian, Huw telling her that he got them thrown in prison for a tiny amount of dope at a party once, and Ian's obsessed. As he rants on, Ian walks in and Mary tries to shut Huw up but it's far too late. Ian tells him to get out, because he specifically forbade Mary from allowing Huw and Lenny in the house when he employed her, and also from bringing boyfriends home. She replies that she's leaving because she can't stand working for an obsessive loony who treats her like dirt. Ian reconsiders while she's packing. When she returns, he asks her to change her mind. She says why should she - she's working all the hours God gives, for peanuts. He assumes that money will solve it so offers her a pay rise. Ian meets Nick, allowing Phil and Grant to follow in a car so that they don't appear to be together. However, he talks to them before he goes into the bar, and Nick is watching from the window. Nick tells Ian that he is there to ask him to stop wasting all their time, and he won't win, so he might as well give up, because he and Cindy have an arrangement - what Cindy wants, Cindy gets, and she wants her kids back. Ian replies that Nick is one of a long line of mugs and when Cindy has got what she wants he will be her next victim. Nick replies that he knows everything, and in fact Simon and David both dumped Cindy, so she was the victim there, and she was only unfaithful to Ian because she never loved him and always despised him, so there is absolutely no reason she should ever do the same again. He tells Ian to go away and take his stupid henchmen with him. Kathy sees Alex again and congratulates him about the hostel. He says he didn't realise she was there. She is about to throw out the Christmas tree angel which she broke in a tantrum the other day, and she says she's tried to mend it but couldn't. Alex takes it and says can he try, because he used to be good at that sort of thing. Slightly non-plussed, she agrees and Alex comes in and she makes tea while he messes around with the angel. He says it's the advantage of being a boring child who played with plastic kits a lot making things, and Kathy says it's better than being a kid who destroyed things. The angel repair is a success, and then Alex asks about Phil visiting yesterday, saying Jeff mentioned it. She says he didn't - it was Grant, asking her to reconsider her divorce again, but she won't. He says if she needs to talk he will listen, either as her priest or a friend, whatever, he's not sure. She says she's not sure either, why doesn't he tell her what their relationship is? He says he's shy, and she says she's scared to. Alex says "It seems like that says it all" and Kathy asks him if he is sure. He says he's very sure, and they kiss... Credits Main cast *Ian Beale - Adam Woodyatt *Kathy Mitchell - Gillian Tayforth *George Palmer - Paul Moriarty *Annie Palmer - Nadia Sawalha *Cindy Beale - Michelle Collins *Pat Evans - Pam St. Clement *Peggy Mitchell - Barbara Windsor *Grant Mitchell - Ross Kemp *Huw Edwards - Richard Elis *Lenny Wallace - Desune Coleman *Bianca Butcher - Patsy Palmer *Simon Raymond - Andrew Lynford *Tiffany Mitchell - Martine McCutcheon *Phil Mitchell - Steve McFadden *Conor Flaherty - Seán Gleeson *Ben Mitchell - Matthew Silver Guest cast *Jessie Moore - Chelsey Paden Category:Episode Category:1998 Episodes